Disintegration
by teno-hikari
Summary: During the end of the Kharlan War, Lloyd had died before his lover and brother-in-arms, Mithos. Four thousand years later, Lloyd Irving finds himself not only on the journey of World Regeneration, but into the past he no longer remembers. MithosxLloyd
1. Prologue

**Disintegration **

**Author:** Tenohikari

**Fandom:** Tales of Symphonia

**Pairing:** Mithos(Yggdrassil)/Lloyd, and more pairings to come.

**Warnings:** male/male pairings. Ratings will go up in some chapters. AU twist but with a lot of Symphonia Game/Manga/Anime spoilers. Oh yeah, the story is 100% unbetad – so it's probably littered with tons of grammar/spelling errors.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I do own a copy of the game, the manga series, and some doujinshi... obsessed? Probably.

**Summary:** During the end of the Kharlan War, Lloyd had died before his lover and brother-in-arms, Mithos. Four thousand years later, Lloyd Irving finds himself not only on the journey of World Regeneration, but into the past he no longer remembers.

* * *

_Prologue_

_Death is only the beginning_

As a soldier he had wanted nothing but a quick and honorable end. Unlike many martyrs who fought beside and against him, he wanted a death that was quiet with no fuss and with as little pain as possible; but that was simply asking too much. His increasingly blurring russet eyes glanced around the battlefield in despair at the corpses of his countrymen. They looked like broken toys that were broken and discarded by a sadistic and spoiled child.

A child…

That was what his now-dead Captain had called him with the order to retreat right before a broad sword severed his head in one broad stroke. Despite his skill with the blade, the youth couldn't help but stand there as if the blood had bonded his feed permanently to the ground. He was a child after all. Only sixteen years of age, and had naïve little dreams like traveling around the world. All of those dreams were going to come to an end, and the worse was that he would have to break his promise…

"Lloyd, you lied!" another child's voice wailed in his ears, "you liar!"

With great effort Lloyd turned his attention to the one causing the 'fuss' that he could do without during his final moments. Still, he was lucky enough to have four people he considered as his family close by. Kratos, Yuan, Martel, and…

"Sorry… Mithos," he rasped and watched those loving innocent sapphire eyes weep for him.

The sight of those tears made the blade stuck between his ribs almost bearable compared to the vice around his slowly beating heart. Mithos Yggdrassil, the great young hero who wanted to save the world but could not save his friend, screamed in denial and begged for his companions' assistance.

"Lloyd, try not to speak."

He convulsed when healing mana entered his battered body, coaxing it to continue on living. Choking on his own blood, he raised a trembling hand out to the healer. She was crying for him as well. Those similar sapphire eyes, so much like Mithos', followed the motion that pointed to his stomach, before they widened in horror. Both of the armed men at her side stiffened, and swear under their breaths. The healer stifled a sob at the realization that he was way beyond the levels which normal healing mana could cure.

But Mithos did not nor would try to understand the hopelessness of it all. He shook his head and begged his sister to continue healing, or for her fiancée and his mercenary teacher to pull out some powerful elixir that would make everything better. The tears continued to fall like rain, almost drowning out his final words.

"Don't cry… you… brat…."

Lloyd wheezed as he tried to squeeze Mithos' s trembling hand, before smiling. He would have laughed if blood wasn't filling his lungs at the moment, as Mithos' face, scrunched up in anger. The blonde magi-swordsman yelled out uncreative insults like 'stupid human' and 'bad kisser' that washed over him like balm.

'_Bad kisser' huh?'_ He thought to himself when his last few senses began to shut down. He could no longer hear the hysterical voice of the soon to be legendary hero. '_If the gods were truly kind, they'll let me work on that.'_

Unlike the other soldiers who had fallen, Lloyd had died with a smile on his face.


	2. Chapter 1

_Dear Mithos, _

_First, ask Martel if you actually address another male as 'Dear' when you write them a letter. It just seems off to me. Anyway, I'm afraid that I cannot write much today, I do have to wake up early tomorrow for training. Just wanted to thank you for my early birthday gif. I love it, and I'm sure it will come in handy (pun intended). See you at Lake Umacy._

_Lloyd_

_Chapter I  
Today is a dream_

When Lloyd Irving finally woke up - after being doused with a bucket of cold well water and a few morning Dwarven Vows - he knew that the day was just going to go down hill from there. Never mind the bright blue sky and warm sunshine outside his bedroom window; today was Monday. Mondays meant the start of the five days in a row he would have to sit in a classroom for hours on end. Lloyd, like many children, did not care much for school, not when there were all sorts of fun stuff he could do outside.

He yawned and considered going back to sleep, drenched and all, until a pair of large green paws padded over to his bed. Canine teeth grabbed hold of the pillow, and tugged, at it playfully. The teen frowned, and tried to wrestle his pillow free.

"Lloyd!" the owner of that bucket of water that had splashed him earlier, called from downstairs. "If ya want yer breakfast, ya better be gettin' down here now!"

Lloyd groaned in dismay and released the pillow, ending the little tug-a-war game in the green canine's victory, to fumble about his room as he dressed. The teen really hoped that he could get a few hours of sleep during the Professor Sage's early lecture. He always had the best naps during class; but as a result, received the lowest quiz scores and the most lectures followed by long hours that he would be forced to clean the chalk boards after school.

"Boy!" the voice boomed again.

Knowing his dad's patience was wearing thin whenever he revered to his adoptive son as 'boy,' he scrambled around, purposely leaving behind his book bag in exchange for his weapons – a pair of wooden swords - before dashing out of his room and down the stairs.

Someone, of course, beat him by having four legs. Lloyd frowned to see the same green trouble maker pull back from his plate, munching away. His dad chuckled at the sight of his crest fallen face.

"Looks like Noishe beat ya to the bacon, Lloyd,"

"Dammit Noishe!"

"Whine?"

"Lloyd, watch yer mouth."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled before shooting the culprit a dirty look. He winced upon seeing the time on the carved wooden clock on wall and hastily grabbed the remains of breakfast of slightly warm scrambled eggs with a slice of toast wrapped around them - and rushed out the door.

"See ya later, dad!"

The Dwarf blacksmith only shook his head as he stared at the open door his son forgot to close.

"Have a good day."

His spirits automatically lifted when he arrived at the village gates of Iselia and waved in a friendly manner at the guards who greeted him. They smiled in return, also appearing relieved that his pet wasn't trying to follow him to school again. Lloyd didn't know why, but his dog just made the villagers uncomfortable. Noishe was just a dog - even though he was green, the size of a horse, and smart enough to help Lloyd with some of his homework (and not by eating it) – but still, just a dog.

Making his way to the school house, he exchanged greetings with the villagers and even did a few small jobs like getting a kitten down from a tree (Lloyd was really good at climbing trees) and made it just before the bells started to ring. Not only was he early, Professor Sage wasn't even in the room yet. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Morning, Genis!"

He zeroed in on a lone boy dressed in blue and who was years younger than everyone else, sitting up front and plopped into the desk behind him. No one other than him, and their friend Collette sat close to the boy. Another reason why, Lloyd thought the villagers were weird, was that they seemed to be intimidated by non-Desian half-elves.

It took a couple of nudges though to get that silver head boy to turn and look in his direction. Genis Sage, the Professor's little brother and Lloyd's best friend, smiled sheepishly at him and reluctantly closed the book he had been so engrossed by.

"Morning, Lloyd," Genis greeted as he turned his body halfway in his seat to face him, "did you just get in?"

"Yeah, and why are you studying?" Lloyd's expression turned sour for a moment, "wait, we don't have a test or anything like one today, do we?"

The other boy laughed in amusement as Lloyd looked like he wanted to bolt. Normally, he would probably tell Lloyd they had a huge test that covered all their subjects, and watch the older boy go into a panic attack. But today, Genis took pity on his best friend who was looking around frantically at the maps and charts on the wall as if he could memorize everything in just a couple of minutes.

"Not that I know of," he answered finally. "Sis said she was going to go over the World Regeneration again. I just wanted to get ahead a little."

Lloyd rolled his eyes. As if Genis wasn't already ahead of the whole class already. Many of the children and adults thought the Sage-siblings were highly intelligent because they were half-elves. Lloyd knew better of course, both Raine and Genis were smart because they spent most of their time reading books. Lloyd lost count of how many times he would be trapped in the village's small library; not to read, but to help Genis carry heavy books that the younger boy would finish that night. Lloyd didn't mind, he knew it was Genis' dream to become a scholar, and most likely would become one someday.

"Anyway, sounds perfect, I can get a good two hour nap."

Genis only shook his head, eagerly turning his attention back to the text he had abandoned for only a few minutes.

It wasn't long before the rest of the children, including the Professor, entered before the second bell. Genis and Lloyd's other close childhood friend, Collette Brunnel skipped by (not before tripping over her own feet) and sat down in the desk next to Lloyd's. She chirped a 'Good Morning' to both of them, before roll call.

Sure enough, after roll did Genis' sister announce the special lecture that was about the World Regeneration. Both Genius and Collette perked up, while Lloyd laid his head down on the desk behind an open history book and closed his eyes. He hoped the lecture would last until lunch.

* * *

Lloyd usually dreamed of traveling the world with Genis and Collette, in a boat that he would make with his own two hands. It was a dream he's had ever since he decided to follow in his adopted father's footsteps in becoming a carpenter and blacksmith. However, as the years went by and he became more confident in his skills as an apprentice; Lloyd knew his dream may not come true.

Genis would probably be the one to go with him, maybe even before enrolling at the Academy in Palmacosta. It was Collette who probably wouldn't be a part of his dream. She was after all, the Chosen of Mana. Her dream and duty was to regenerate the world that was in recline. Such a heavy burden to bear for such frail shoulders, it all seemed unfair to Lloyd. But if it was what she wanted, to become angel, he would support her. That's what you could do for the people you cared for.

"_You worry for your friends, even when you're dreaming,"_ a melodious voice spoke over his thoughts. _"You haven't changed at all."_

"Huh?" Lloyd whirled around and felt the world underneath him tilt for a moment. It was only when he recovered his bearings did he notice his surroundings. The landscape, although beautiful, was much different than what he usually dreamed about.

He stood facing a lake that shimmered with the sun reflecting off its surface. The water was surrounded by forest which was vastly different from woods in Iselia. The trees just looked different in their size and shape. Some had a variety of colorful birds Lloyd has never seen before, perched in their branches.

Finally, he half turned in the direction of that voice, only to stare at a young woman he had also never seen before, step into the clearing. If she was bothered by his gaping, she made no comment. Instead, the young woman smiled warmly at him and moved closer to admire the view.

"_I haven't been here in ages, but it doesn't look like it's changed,"_ she spoke softly, reaching up to push a long lock of emerald colored hair over a pointed-tip ear. _"But after all, it is just a dream. It probably looks nowhere near how we remember it."_

She's a half-elf! Lloyd realized quickly and was amazed. Other than the Sage siblings, he didn't know of any other half-elves living in Iselia. She certainly didn't look like a Desian.

The woman giggled all of a sudden and met his gaze. _"I hope I don't."_

'_Wait'_, Lloyd thought as he stared at her dumbfounded, '_is she reading my thoughts? I didn't know half-elves could do that!_'

"Silly," she laughed again. "We're in your dream."

Luckily he managed to find his voice.

"My dream? But who…?"

* * *

"LLOYD IRVING, WAKE UP!"

Groggily, Lloyd manage to crack open his eyes and raised his head above he book just see the Professor hurl an all to familiar black projectile at him. Barely missing Genis' temple by an inch; the chalkboard eraser hit his forehead with an explosion of dust. He found himself in a coughing fit as his face and most of his hair was now covered in a thin layer of chalk. Great, first it was frigid cold well water, and now chalkboard dust. Today was just not the day for sleeping.

"I'm awake. I'm awake," he mumbled while holding back a yawn.

Genis' sister pointed out the door and told Lloyd to go wash his face. However, not before threatening to use laundry pins to keep his eye lids open the next time she caught him napping. Lloyd made a mental note to try and get his dad to brew him up some of that strong coffee to drink before class next time.

He went outside the school house, ignored the curious glances from some villagers passing by, as he began to pull up a bucket of water from the well out back. Hastily he took off the red gloves he wear with his outfit (a craftsman had to protect his hands after all) followed by his matching jacket. He set them aside, to avoid getting them wet.

Lloyd steeled his nerves, as he kneeled down, cupped his bare hands together before quickly submerging them in the bucket. A shiver ran down his spine as he brought them up, to splash the cold water onto his face, and repeated the action until he could no longer see chalk on himself in his own reflection. He couldn't help but be entranced by the now murky water was so different compared the crystal blue lake in his dream.

"Hey, Lloyd!"

The said boy, turned and smiled as Collette approached him with a dry towel in her hands. She returned his smile as he accepted her offer, using it to dry his face and hair. Instead of going back inside for the lecture, she plopped down on a patch of grass beside him.

"Lloyd?"

"Hmm?"

"What would you like for your birthday?"

He blinked at her in confusion as he began to put his jacket back on. "That's my line, isn't it? Besides, my birthday is a month off."

Collette only shrugged her shoulders as she continued to smile, while playing with the short blade of grass under her fingers. "I know. It's just that I want to give you something really special… something that will make you remember me."

The last part, Lloyd barely heard but noticed as his friend had stopped smiling and kept her sky blue eyes downcast. He didn't understand what she meant, did she really believe that by going on a journey that her friends and family would forget her?

"You dummy," he spoke softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. There was no malice in the insult, just the opposite. "What I'd want for my birthday… is to have all of my friends together, just like how it is now."

Collette smiled, but it was nowhere near as bright as it was minutes ago. He didn't understand why this was upsetting her, but decided not to press any further. The last thing he ever wanted was to make her cry. She nodded in understanding, brushing sun-kissed blonde bangs from her face.

Lloyd stared as the simple motion brought him back to the day dream that lead him there. TheChosen's blue (not sapphire) eyes stared at him in confusion.

"Lloyd?"

He broke quickly from his day dream, and hastily pulled on his gloves.

"Sorry, my head was in the clouds again." It was a phrase Raine would often use to describe his short attention span. Collette giggled, and it was a sound that Lloyd found soothing to his ears.

"There you guys are!"

They turned their heads to see Genis walking up, looking slightly annoyed that the two were just sitting around and missing the important lecture going on inside.

"Sis told me to come get you both," said the younger Sage. "She's getting to part of Mithos the Hero, so hurry up!"

"Okay. Come on, Lloyd!"

Collette stood up, smoothing out her white tunic before heading back into the school house. Lloyd followed, and almost had his foot inside the door when he saw his best friend snicker and turned back to face him. The brunet tensed, he knew that look. As much as he loved the Sage siblings – they could be quite sadistic without even realizing it.

"Oops, almost forgot," he said innocently, "Raine said you had to bring two full buckets of water inside."

Lloyd groaned, and headed back to the well.

He really should have stayed in bed.

* * *

"Am I dreaming again?" he wondered looking at the blue lake once more. Lloyd stepped forward and automatically knew something was different in his second visit. For starters, the lake surface didn't look as calm as it did before. It was as if there was a sudden downpour of rain he couldn't see or hear, causing ripples to form, too many to count.

Lloyd stood transfixed, watching the hundreds of circles collide with each other that he didn't even hear someone approach him from behind.

"It has started."

From the corner of his eye, he saw her, the woman from before. She wasn't smiles and laughter this time. The expression on her face was a somber one, and his heart couldn't help but ache for some reason. Why, why did this woman – this stranger – remind him of Collette?

"What has?" he finally turned to ask; only to gape and stare right passed her.

In the background behind the forest, was the tallest structure, Lloyd had ever seen or knew that it existed. No, he knew of one. He did pay some attention to Raine's history lectures even though he and his dad never attended masses that had worshipped the Goddess from those ancient stories.

A white tower stood in the distance, it went up straight into the sky, and the top was obscured by clouds that it looked as if it could have gone on forever: The Tower of Salvation. According to all the tales he's heard, no one has seen it for many generations. It would only be revealed when the Chosen of Mana would leave for the journey of Regeneration.

'_Collete, is this, what you've been waiting for?'_

Despite the awe frozen on the teenager's face, his companion continued to stare only at the ripples of the lake before them. He only managed to snap out of his shock, when she placed her hands upon his shoulders. Sapphire eyes pleaded something from him, and before he could question her, she pushed him into the lake.

"_Please…"_

As he fell backwards, he barely heard her finish before he went under.

_Wake up._

* * *

"LLOYD IRVING, DID YOU HEAR ME? WAKE UP!"

The heavy buckets of water fell from his limp grip as Lloyd's came wide awake. Automatically, his toes curled in his boots in attempt of gripping the solid ground to keep from falling forwards. He also braced the back wall, and quickly came to the realization that he had fallen asleep standing up again.

The whole class was staring at him in disbelief, though Genis and Collette looked at him with pity. At first he didn't understand, until he then remembered why he had been holding two buckets of water during a lecture in the first place. Then he turned his attention towards his teacher.

Raine was twitching with restrained anger, clothespins clutched tightly in one of her hands. He blanched, pressing back against the wall as if they would swallow and spit him out on the other side. He stammered out apologies that fell on deaf half-elven ears, wondering if he should just cut class and make a run for it. However, all thought was stricken from his mind and his and everyone else's attention turned towards the window.

Lightning had flashed on such a clear day, which made even the toughest kid in class jumped in his seat. It was so unnatural, so sudden, that it had made Raine drop the wooden pins and forget about punishing Lloyd altogether. The only person in the classroom not glued in place, was theChosenwho stood up from her seat.

Lloyd saw that she was shaking, staring out the window with a mixture of fear and wonder before she closed her eyes, and willed herself to calm down. When Raine left to speak with the Mayor, ordering them to all stay in the building, the three friends gathered together.

"I have to go."

"What are you talking about, Collete?" Genis asked in disbelief. "You heard what Raine said."

The boys were shocked to see Collete eyeing the door while fidgeting with her hands. Disobeying their teacher's orders and skipping class, was definitely not a Collete-thing. Something was definitely wrong.

"I have to go," she repeated, "I really think I should go to theTempleofMartelnow."

Genis gaped. "A-Are you serious? Do you think that light we saw earlier …? Are you going to receive the oracle now?"

Looking from friend to friend, Lloyd shrugged his shoulders and nodded to himself.

"Then it's decided. Let's go."

"But, Lloyd! We can't! What about Raine?"

"Calm down, Genis. It's just research," he explained and winked at Collette who smiled gratefully in return. The youngest and the most sensible of the group just sighed. If you can't beat them, join them, even if they're idiots.

* * *

The lack of guards at back gates of the village, told the children to be cautious as they proceeded to move out. Although few, there were monsters between the village and theMartelTemple. This is why the children were always armed to defend themselves. Lloyd had his swords, Collette her chakrams, and Genis his kendama. Together they've proven to be quite formidable over the years.

As they ran to the temple, Lloyd at the lead, followed by Collete, and Genis to watch their backs – they were lucky not to encounter that many small opponents in their path. It almost seemed as if the monsters had sensed that something was amiss and stayed out of sight.

It wasn't long before the trio made it to their destination, with a not so warm welcome. Lying before the steps leading up the hill to the temple itself, was an old man; battered, bloodied, and barely breathing. He was one of the familiar faces to Lloyd, this priest was a long time friend of Collette's grandmother, and had been nominated long ago to accompany Collette on her pilgrimage.

"Father Sayrune!" Collette cried out as she rushed forward, her two companions on her heals.

She knelt beside the priest and tried to hold back her tears at the sight of his mortall injuries. With a trembling hand, he reached out to grasp hers tightly.

"Chosen," he managed to croak out, making Genis wince as the boy wished his sister was there at the moment. "Desians… Desians have attacked…. You must… escape…"

"Desians?" Lloyd and Genis exclaimed together.

Desians were to blame for most of the bloodshed in Sylvarant. The organization of half-elves hated humans whom they labeled as "inferior beings" and treated them as such. Just a couple miles away from the village was a ranch where humans were treated worse than cattle. But what had happened to the treaty between the Desians and Iselia? Was their home no longer safe?

"Father Sayrune!" Collette couldn't hold back her tears, "Please hold on! Where's grandma?"

The dead couldn't answer any questions, and the priest's hand fell limply from her grasp. Lloyd wished he could have let her grieve; comfort her for the loss and potentially another one if they didn't get to Phaidra in time. He nodded to Genis that they would continue and placed a hand on the sobbing girl's shoulder.

Drying her tears as best she could, Collette nodded in understanding. They gently laid the priest's body to the side of the path and ascended the steps. It was only when they were halfway up did they hear the sounds of battle: steel clashing against steel, arrows whistling through the air, and the cries of death.

Lloyd cringed and unconsciously tightened the grip on his swords. What could they do against those demons that used brute force and magic at their disposal? After all they were just three school kids. Collete was clumsy, Genis was still working on improving his magic, and he had just learned swordsmanship from his dad and some of the guards in the village. Guards who were being slaughtered left and right in the temple above.

'_Now isn't the time to doubt yourself,'_ he thought and eyed the bandages wrapped around his gloved hand. _'I can do this, I just need to…' _

_Wake up_

End chapter 1


	3. Chapter 2

**Title: Disintegration **

**Author:** Tenohikari

**Fandom:** Tales of Symphonia

**Pairing:** Mithos(Yggdrassil)/Lloyd, and more pairings to come.

**Warnings:** male/male pairings. Ratings will go up in some chapters. AU twist but with a lot of Symphonia Game/Manga/Anime spoilers. Oh yeah, the story is 100% unbetad – so it's probably littered with tons of grammar/spelling errors.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I do own a copy of the game, the manga series, and some doujinshi... obsessed? Probably.

**Summary:** During the end of the Kharlan War, Lloyd had died before his lover and brother-in-arms, Mithos. Four thousand years later, Lloyd Irving finds himself not only on the journey of World Regeneration, but into the past he no longer remembers.

___________________________________________________________________________

_Dearest Lloyd, _

_I do hope your last letter wasn't implying that I am unmanly; I would certainly hate to see a jar of tomato sauce find its way into the cake Martel is making for you. I am glad you enjoyed your birthday present because it took quite a while to make it. Do be careful not to damage it while you're fighting and watch your back out there. I know this asking too much, but don't do anything stupid._

_Mithos _

___________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 2

And yesterday's dreams –

"Genis, Collette, stay behind me," Lloyd ordered quietly. The teenager's doubt from before was now gone, and in its place was more confidence than he ever felt before. "Keep your distance, use long range attacks only."

He would be forever grateful toward his adoptive father for always nagging him to carry around first aid supplements. Healing gels and bandages were always on his person, since he walked through a monster inhabited forest on a daily basis. Lloyd quickly checked his supply and nodded in satisfaction when he had more than enough to share with his friends.

"We don't know how many enemies we'll encounter up there. Judging by Sayrune's burns, there is probably a fire Magi with them. Here, Genis, take this."

He threw the younger boy a pack of his orange gels before unsheathing his swords. Maybe one of these days he would convince his father to give him swords with steel blades; but the practice wood carved ones were better than nothing. Lloyd hesitated though, about removing the bandage around his hand and hoped that he wouldn't have to.

'_Never take off that bandage around yer hand, Lloyd. No matter what happens, no one must ev'r see it, ya hear? Promise me!' _

'_Sure dad, I promise.'_

Upon reaching the top of the hill, the trio hid behind the bushes for cover. Genis watched in amazement as Lloyd practically blurred out of sight. His best friend may not have been the brightest crayon in the box (as Raine would say whenever she graded his homework), but he made up for it outside the school house.

Lloyd excelled in physical activities and endurance. Genis had to admit he admired his friend's leadership and agility. Whenever they went off around the forest looking for adventure, the older boy had lead them through a couple fights, giving them orders like a high ranking officer would his subordinates. The teen actually analyzed their opponents (monster slug worms and the occasional 'demon' rabbits) during battle, found their weak points, and before they knew it, the time to beat their enemy decreased with each encounter. Yet the situation was completely different, they had never fought Desians before.

Desians were far worse than the forest monsters; they were known to march into non-treaty villages and burn homes with families still inside, all for their amusement and their sick sense of justice. The forest monsters feared the Desians as much as the humans did, and there was probably dozens in the village… how would three school children fight them off? Before thoughts of backing out came to mind, Genis was quickly pulled out of his reverie when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"It'll be all right," Collette smiled gently at him. "I believe in Lloyd."

He only nodded and eased on the tight grip he had around the Kendama when he saw Lloyd's signal.

"Yeah, me too."

* * * *

Taking caution not to be seen, Lloyd weaved carefully around the trees and bushes in his path, and arrived at the spot he needed to be in to execute his plan. He took cover behind the foliage, and watched with narrowed eyes, as armored clad soldiers had finished cutting down the temple guards with ease.

So much death in so little time; Lloyd was quaking and he inwardly struggled to keep his rage back when the last soldier – one who always greeted him in the mornings – fell dead at his murderer's feet. The sight of steel swords, glistening with blood, stirred a whirlwind of emotions that Lloyd had never felt all at once: rage, hatred, even fear.

'_Damn those, Desians! Damn them to hell!' _

He gripped his swords, and felt his heart drumming in his ears as he signaled Genis and watched in satisfaction as the soldiers were pelted by fire ball spells. Before they could even put themselves out, he shot out from his hiding place and attacked.

'_I will damn them,'_ an alien voice vowed softly in his mind, _'even if I have to become the devil, himself.'_

His wooden swords weren't as lethal as steel ones, but they did their own level of damage. Lloyd disarmed one man, before slamming the hilt into his unprotected jaw, sending him stumbling back. He quickly brought up his other blade where it needed to be to block a blow coming from his blind spot, before delivering a powerful kick into an approaching Desian's midriff.

He attacked without thinking, bringing one sword to jab at unprotected areas of his enemies' torsos, while using the other as a guard. His whole body moved as if it were possessed, he couldn't even manage to recall learning some of the moves he was able to perform. Fighting in such close combat, for some odd reason didn't feel overwhelming as it should feel for a teenager armed with training swords against a group of mass murdering half-elves.

Yet, whatever adrenaline rush he had just experience was beginning to burn out as his breath ballooned in his chest, and muscles screamed for rest. Lloyd panted as he quickly counted his remaining opponents, most of them were wounded and unconscious… and it was odd, there was actually more Desians here than there had been before. He hadn't even noticed than the enemies must have called for backup.

"Not bad for a human child," one of the few who were uninjured and still standing spoke almost in a tone of admiration. "I admire your strength and courage, boy, so I'll be generous and make your death as painless as possible."

Lloyd glared at the man as he struggled to catch his breath, and moved in a classic fighting stance. The half elf smirked as he drew his sword from its scabbard before stepping forward, leaving the others to drag their unconscious comrades away. Lloyd's eyes followed them, relieved that they did not head into the bushes far behind him where Genis and Collette were hiding in.

"Eyes up front, boy," the remaining Desian called out to him before charging forward.

The teen felt a pulse beat from his bandaged hand and quickly brought up his arm to counter the devastating blow that would have cleaved him in two. Lloyd couldn't help but gasp as his arm throbbed in pain; it almost felt like it was going to snap like a twig… along with his sword that began to splinter under the assault. This was why he carried two swords rather than one with a shield. He quickly leaned forward with all his strength, before thrusting his second blade at the other's face.

Even though the Desian was wearing a helm with a face mask that protected his eyes from being gouged out; the strength of the impact sent him staggering backwards. Lloyd took advantage, springing into another series of attacks and cursing when the stunned man wasn't caught off guard. That infuriating smirk grew wider and if Lloyd wasn't worried before, he was now.

Blows were raining down on him from both left and right; he struggled, and yet somehow managed to counter all of them. Some blows were nicks on his blade, others sliced off pieces from them. He cursed, knowing his weapons that wouldn't hold up for much longer.

"Lloyd, duck!" he barely heard Collette over his rapidly beating heart but obeyed as one of her chakrams sliced through the air towards the enemy's blind spot. The half elf soldier raised his weapon and batted the projectile with ease. Though the way his jaw had dropped open in surprise, made the teen assume his friend did hit him.

"You…" the man started, his voice lost all arrogance it had been full of earlier, "your name is Lloyd?"

The brunet straightened and both his friends left their hiding place and were now flanked at his sides. When he didn't respond, the older man only frowned and Lloyd felt as if he were being scrutinized behind the small slits of the Desian's helm. He had a bad feeling about letting the enemy know his name.

"H-Hey Genis," he muttered to his best friend. Those violet eyes quickly glanced his way before focusing back on the enemy.

"Gotcha, fireball!"

The Desian didn't even have time to duck as he was to busy staring at the brunet human child in wonder. He felt the breath knocked out of him as one of his comrades had returned to shove them both out of the way. The trio watched as their enemies tumbled backwards down the temple's concrete steps, before heading towards their destination.

* * * *

Landing with a dull thud at the entrance of the temple, both half elves groaned as they struggled to compose themselves.

"Are you all right, Captain?"

"I'm fine, Elric… I was just caught off guard. Thanks for saving my ass."

The other soldier shrugged, "No problem. I was coming back to let you know that Lord Botta and his team are up there now. Our Leader told him to tell me to tell you to head back."

Sighing, the man who had been fighting earlier simply nodded. "Very well. Oh Elric, deliver a message to Lord Botta for me, would you."

"What is it, sir?"

He sheathed his blade and turned in the opposite direction of the temple, frowning even more. "Tell him to watch out for that boy in red named Lloyd, he's probably going to be trouble."

* * * *

"You were amazing, Lloyd!" Collette beamed at him, making the brunet blush in embarrassment as they ran towards the temple entrance, catching Desians off guard on the way. "You were really fast! I've never seen you fight like that!"

"Yeah," Genis agreed before he quickly swallowed an orange gel to replenish his mana, "have you been holding back on all our monster fights this whole time?"

Lloyd stared at them, eyes quickly darting to the bandages around his gloved hand and shrugged. "Yeah a little, I was just really lucky to have good friends back me up at the right time, that's all."

Both of his closest friends smiled and Lloyd felt the pangs of guilt tug at him when he touched his other glove hand. He would tell them what was hidden underneath when the time came to break his promise do his adopted father. He didn't want to do that either, but if the Desians came to attack Iselia, what other choice did he have?

When they arrived, the three children were shocked to see Collette's grandmother was the only one standing between the temple doors and the group of armed Desians. Phaidra was a tough old lady, but there was no way she could stand up to even one of them!

"Where is the Chosen of Regeneration, old crone?!" demanded a Desian who surprisingly was not in a similar uniform as the others. "This is the last time I ask."

Phaidra stared back at the leader of group unflinchingly. "Then this will be my final answer," she responded calmly despite all the bloodshed that had happened around her. "I will not tell you."

One of the Desians turned to the speaker who only frowned crossly at Collette's grandmother. "Lord Botta, we have no choice but to kill her!"

Botta only nodded as he folded his arms across his chest, "very well."

"No, Grandmother!" Collette shrieked causing the group helmed heads to swivel in their direction. Lloyd and Genis groaned; so much for the element of surprise. They quickly readied their weapons and Lloyd could only hope his wooden swords would be able to hold up during the fight.

At the sight of three innocent children ready to do battle with murderers, Phaidra lost her calm composure, her eyes widened in horror. "Run Collette, get out of here!"

The one that was called 'Lord Botta' only smirked as he spotted Collette, "So that is the Chosen. Kill her."

Lloyd glared coldly at the man who just ordered the death for his best friend when she hadn't even done anything. What were the Desians thinking, and why break the treaty they had all of a sudden? He didn't have anymore time to think as he could hear Genis chanting from behind. He met Collete's gaze and nodded – that they would stick with the usual routine - before charging forward to fend off the group of attacking Desians.

He felt another pulse coming from his bandaged hand, and felt its power coursing through him once more.

'_Lend me your strength,'_ he begged it, _'so that I can save my friends.'_

"Lord Botta!"

Even upon hearing his name, the half elf leader could not tear his eyes away from the fight as one of his soldiers ran towards him. How the hell were three school children besting his men after they had taken down the village guards so easily? Well one of them, the little one with silver hair, was a magi which gave them the upper hand; but somehow even the Chosen, a little girl, was fairing better than his soldiers, by accidentally tripping on her own feet she had managed to take two grown men down. Then there was the boy in red…

The human boy cut down his men as if his swords were made of steel and not wood, and as they fell, Botta noticed that they were still breathing. It made him curious; humans should all detest the Desians, so why not pick up a real sword and go for the kill?

"What is it, Elric?" he asked as the other half elf stopped by his side and was equally taken back by the fight.

"That's the boy in red that ambushed our first squad, the Captain told me to warn you… his name is Lloyd."

'_Lloyd? What an unlucky coincidence.'_ Botta tear his eyes away from the fight to look at the messenger with a disbelieving frown etched on his face, before signaling one of his strongest fighters from the back.

"Vidarr, take care of them."

* * * *

Lloyd panted as he stood over the bodies of four fallen Desians, all of whom were still alive but wouldn't be waking anytime soon. He stared, stunned at his own arms which had practically moved on their own throughout the whole fight. Once again, combat was second nature. His arms knew exactly where to strike and when to block to avoid serious injury.

He unconsciously groped at his bandage hand, amazed how much skill could have been unlocked by one little stone. Lloyd almost wondered if it made him smart enough to pass one of Professor Raine's math tests and decided not to press his luck. Looking back up, Lloyd and his friends gaped in horror at the approaching Desian.

The man was a monster. Big and mean looking as a grizzly bear and Lloyd would have preferred the latter as he unconsciously took a step back. Was he trembling? His arms suddenly felt like lead weights as the hulking Desian effortlessly began to swing around a chain over him, and at the end of it was a mace ball that was bigger than a human head.

"What's the matter boy?" Vidarr sneered at him, "Scared? You should be."

The chain snapped forward and Lloyd reacted quickly, diving over to his left and knocking both Genis and Collette out of harms way. They scampered about when the mace ball came crashing down above them, leaving a nasty looking hole in the earth where Collette lay seconds ago. Rolling over into a crouch position, Lloyd glared at the Desian. How dare he target Collette!

He charged forward, ducking and leaping over Vidarr's swings as he got up close to the huge man's torso.

"SWORD RAIN!" he automatically yelled the words that came to his head as he proceeded to send a series of stabs into the Desian's exposed belly. His body finished the attack by launching itself up and kicking his stunned enemy in the jaw before landing a yard away. He heard the sound of the mace ball slam into the ground once more as Vidarr backed up, wheezing and coughing up blood.

"Way to go, Lloyd!" Genis cheered him from behind.

The brunet turned his head, and tiredly gave his best friend a thumbs-up. Mistake. Lloyd knew he made one the second the younger boy's facial expression of awe turned into absolute horror. From the corner of his eye, he saw it coming, the mace ball - and all its deadly spikes - was headed straight towards his face.

He squeezed his eyes shut, his arms lifted, bringing his swords up to shield himself. When it came, the impact sent him sailing backwards. Lloyd could hear the screams of his friends over the sound of his blades being utterly destroyed. He knew his head was soon to follow. The pain was indescribable and his vision was nothing but a sickening swirl of red and black.

* * * *

_How long had he been falling? All Lloyd could remember was closing his eyes as the earth shattered under his feet and swallowed him whole. Was it all just a dream? Was it possible for a living being to breathe without air for this long? He felt tired, and no matter how hard he tried, his eyelids refused to open. His other senses were also numbed, leaving him helpless as he continued to plummet further into the unknown depths of either frigid dark water or his own consciousness. He couldn't help but wonder if this was what the aftermath of death was like. An ear-drum splitting response instantly shattered the deafening silence._

_"YOU CAN'T DIE!"_

___________________________________________________________________________

End chapter 2


	4. Chapter 3

**Title: Disintegration **

**Author:** Tenohikari

**Fandom:** Tales of Symphonia

**Pairing:** Mithos(Yggdrassil)/Lloyd, and more pairings to come.

**Warnings:** male/male pairings. Ratings will go up in some chapters. AU twist but with a lot of Symphonia Game/Manga/Anime spoilers. Oh yeah, the story is 100% unbetad – so it's probably littered with tons of grammar/spelling errors.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I do own a copy of the game, the manga series, and some doujinshi... obsessed? Probably.

**Summary:** During the end of the Kharlan War, Lloyd had died before his lover and brother-in-arms, Mithos. Four thousand years later, Lloyd Irving finds himself not only on the journey of World Regeneration, but into the past he no longer remembers.

___________________________________________________________________________

_Mithos, _

_Stupid? Me? Like always you wound me with your words, maybe one day you might injure me in actual duel. Don't worry about me. I can hold my own in a battle. Even the General complimented me and said I would be able to reach the Captain rank in no time. So there! Anyway, you won't be hearing back from me until we meet again, so give Martel my love, and those other two a good kick in the shins for me. _

_Lloyd_

___________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3

Today a faint memory –

_Had he known he was going to die that day, Lloyd would have stayed in bed after all. _

_Is this real? Am I dying?_

_As he was able to open his eyes, he saw a huge whirlpool of red and black before him. He couldn't help but stare, fascinated, as the colors intertwined with themselves and nearly became one as the bright crimson began to fade into a dull gray. Or maybe he was going color blind? He didn't know nor care. _

_His eyelids were starting to feel heavy again. Sleep, he wanted to rest more than anything. Maybe it would all be just a bad dream. He would wake up and have the same boring day all over again with no Oracle or Desians in it. _

'_I want to wake up. I don't want to die. I'm not ready to see mom yet.'_

'_Are you done with your beauty sleep, Lloyd?' a voice echoed in his ears causing him to feel cold all over. The numbness was gone and he could feel a chill running through his body. 'Are you ready, to finally wake up?'_

_Who was speaking to him? Why did the voice sound so familiar? Gazing up, a black gloved hand extended out to him from nowhere, and Lloyd found himself cringing._

'_If you refuse, they will die, your friends that is. If you want to help them, take my hand.'_

_Feeling returned to his arms, and Llloyd reluctantly obliged._

***

Genis felt the wind knocked out of him as a Desian maneuvered around his spells to knee him in the stomach. His small body hit the ground hard next to Lloyd who had fallen only a few minutes ago. What were thinking going against the fearsome Desians? They were just stupid children and now they would pay for their naiveté with their lives.

Lloyd…

Genis wept as he turned to look at his best friend. Lloyd's favorite color had been red and his upper torso was covered in it. There was so much blood. Not even his elder sister's healing spells could cure that kind of injury.

From behind him, he could hear Collette screaming his name as well as Lloyd's and the goddess Martel's. Genis had been trying to give Phaidra some time to get her granddaughter and run back to the village. If anything happened to the Chosen, their world would die… not that these Desians particularly cared.

"Co-Collette," he managed to wheeze as he dug his fingers through the dirt to retrieve his kendama. Rolling onto his stomach, he used what was left of his mana to try and buy his friend more time to escape. "Run away! F-Fire ball!"

His spell shot forward to strike the Desian that was headed for Collette. The spell was too weak and the soldier put out the small flame that was licking his arm without even stopping. The wooden kendama fell lifelessly from the small half-elf's hand as he stared in horror as he watched the Desian grabbed Collette by her hair, before raising his sword to deliver the killing blow.

…A blow that did not come.

His tear-filled eyes widened as a blade pierced through the Desian's torso, before ripping itself free. He heard a surprised shriek from Collette but it was her would-be killer that was spitting up blood. The half elf soldier was dead before he even hit the ground.

Standing in front of the Chosen and Phaidra, was purple-clad swordsman whom Genis was sure he had never seen before. Whoever this man was, he was strong for cleaving a Desian without so much as breaking a sweat.

"Stay back and don't get in my way," he spoke briefly to Collette and her grandmother as he stepped away from them towards the remaining group of Desians standing in front of the temple. Cold, almost red eyes barely acknowledged Genis and Lloyd's bodies as he walked forward without hesitation or even drawing a shield.

The auburn haired swordsman stopped while he was a yard away, flicking the blood - of his previous kill off his blade and made an inclination with his head. Genis gasped in as he scrambled to his knees. Was this man going to challenge all of them at once?!

Apparently so, as four soldiers came at him, weapons drawn raised. Genis wished he could close his eyes, not wanting to witness anymore death; but they stubbornly remained open. The swordsman didn't even flinch when they came at him from all sides, and with one stroke of his sword (that was too fast to fast for Genis' eyes), they went down without a fight.

The swordsman stepped over their corpses and moved on to the next opponent. Only Vidarr – the giant half elf - and three other Desians remained. Despite Vidarr's massive size, he was quaking now and he had reason to be as his the Desian slayer pointed his sword at him.

Not wanting to show his fear in front of his comrades and superior, the huge warrior ran forward swinging his mace ball above his head before sending it crashing down over his challenger's. Much to Genis' growing shock, the blow was blocked effectively. Vidarr grunted and attempted to retreat to attack once more; but the chain had been severed off quickly and before he could fall back, something sharp stabbed into his belly. As blood filled his lungs, the leviathan stared down to see that it wasn't the auburn haired human to deliver the final blow.

Crouching right besides the swordsman, holding a fallen Desian's sword embedded into Vidarr's gut, was Lloyd.

***

_Wake up._

_Lloyd felt as if he were being lifted from the depths he had been falling, while embraced by the encompassing darkness. One by one, his senses seemed to return and he could both taste and smell the metallic tang of his own blood. The pain followed shortly. _

_His head throbbed something fierce. The pounding of his skull overheated the hammering in Lloyd's heart against his rib gage. It felt as if his dad had hit him with the blacksmith hammer right after twenty consecutive math drills with Professor Sage and a yard ruler turned beating stick. _

_It took only a second to realize that he was still breathing- still alive; and then another, to wonder if his friends were in similar states. Lloyd tensed as he could no longer feel the comforting grip of that black-gloved hand around his own and began to grope the ground to his right for something to hold on to, anything that confirmed he was indeed alive in the waking world._

_When his hand felt something solid, he somehow knew it was the hilt of a sword. It was definitely much heavier, more substantial than his previous weapons; but a real blade felt right in Lloyd's hand like it was something he was something he had been without for a long time._

_Forcing open one eye that had been weighted down by blood that was still wet on his face, Lloyd watched the short battle before him. A swordsman whose back was to him easily defeated a group of Desians with one swing. He watched, as if they were moving in slow motion, the man's blade easily cut through his enemies' torso, slashing their vitals directly. _

_Then the giant man with the mace ball appeared, and before Lloyd knew it he was now crouching. Lloyd watched in satisfaction as the Desian's devastating weapon had been blocked, leaving his mid section open once more. His heels dug into the dirt briefly before darting forward; his stolen blade ready for the kill. _

***

Genis felt his jaw unhinge and drop to the ground as he stared on in disbelief. Not only was his best friend still alive, but he had actually killed the monster who took him out even in his condition. The young half-elf hadn't even see Lloyd move from the spot where he fell to the other swordsman's side nearly a yard away. From the puzzled look on the older human male's face, he too seemed confused.

Vidarr spent the last seconds of his life wondering the same thing; before topping backwards, falling dead to the ground with his allies. The group of remaining Desians who were still alive, shrank back in fear. Their attention turned towards their leader, waiting for his order to fight to the death or retreat.

"Sir?" the soldier called Elric asked hesitantly, trying to steady his trembling hand on the hilt of his sword.

Botta clenched his teeth, eyes narrowing at the swordsman who stood between his group and their target. The Chosen was only a couple feet away, if only so many of his men hadn't fallen earlier. He turned his attention to the human boy who was held responsible along with his companions. How was that brat even still alive after that blow to the head? The child was now the least of his problems now; he knew just what kind of opponent this new swordsman was, one, neither he nor a hundred of his men had a chance in beating.

"I never expected to see you here," he grated out, struggling to maintain his composure when those murderous eyes narrowed at him.

Stepping back, Botta gave the signal retreat. Their leader would be most displeased with this failure but would most likely understand with the circumstances involved. Botta cast another glance at the brown haired boy and frowned before fleeing with the rest of his men.

***

Once the enemy was out of sight, having fled back into the forest away from the village; Lloyd fell out of his crouching position and was taking huge gulps of air on the ground. He had been managing to hold his breath after killing Vidarr not wanting to inhale the stench of death around him in fear that, he too, would fall victim to it. Then pass out and return to the darkness once again.

"Lloyd! Lloyd!" Collette and Genis called out together as they raced towards him. He could only smile back tiredly as they fretted over him, giving him some apple gels for his headache. Genis used a weak water spell to help clean off the mess on his face and hair before it started to dry, which Lloyd was thankful for. The last thing he needed was to freak out his dad when he came home covered in his own blood.

"Oh, thank the goddess!" he barely registered Collette say over her sobs. "It's a miracle you're not dead, Lloyd!"

Genis couldn't help but smirk. "Yeah, I always knew you had a hard head!"

Scowling at his best friend, Lloyd chucked the rest of his orange gels at the mage before attempting to stand. A strong and firm hand settled on his shoulder, preventing him from falling flat on his face. Blinking in confusion, Lloyd's eyes followed the arm to meet its owner's concerned umber gaze.

"Don't push it," the stranger advised him.

The rebel inside him wanted to snap at the older man, to tell him to mind his own business; but the rational side of Lloyd was slowly taking over as he felt the gel's healing effect kick in. Nodding, Lloyd allowed himself to lean back against his friends. He was about to inquire about their health but something caught his attention very quickly when the stranger pulled back his hand.

Mounted on the back of that fingerless-gloved covered hand, was an exsphere.

***

"_Lloyd, son, c'mere for a moment.'_

_A fourteen-year old Lloyd turned away from his sword practice at his father's call. He smiled, and plopped onto the grass beside the man who had been sanding a second practice sword at his son's request. He added the finishing touches before holding it up for the teenager to examine._

"_What da'ya think?" the dwarf asked him, "is it a perfect twin?"_

_The human boy's innocent eyes were wide and filled with awe. He gave his father an equally large smile as he took the practice sword. _

"_Yeah, it's great! Thanks dad!" _

_As Lloyd began to practice dual sword moves, Dirk couldn't help but beam with pride; but it was short lasting as he reached into one of his pockets to retrieve a small stone that had not seen the light of day for over a decade. He found himself staring at it for a long time, until his son was tired and had been asking him about dinner. When answers fell on deaf ears, Lloyd plopped down beside his parent, confused at what was so fascinating about a piece of jewelry._

"_Take this, Lloyd," Dirk spoke finally as held his hand out to his son, "it's about time I gave it to ya." _

_Blinking, Lloyd picked up the jewel, not very impressed since he had seen his father create statues out of finer and more beautiful stones. "Eerr… thank you? What is it?"_

_The dwarf 'hmphed' before getting up, dusting out of the blades of grass from his trousers before turning back to Lloyd. "That thing there is called an exsphere. When you put it on with a key crest, it'll draw out your power and fighting skills." _

_Lloyd took a couple seconds for the knowledge to sink in, and begin to admire the stone in a new light. "Really it can do all that? Wait til I tell Genis! We'll be unstoppable and beat up all the monsters in the forest that pick a fight with us!" _

_Reaching out, Dirk sighed and brought his head fist down upon Lloyd's head. "Listen up, knuckle head. Ya can't tell no one that ya have this stone, hear me?" _

_Rubbing his head in dismay, Lloyd frowned. "Aww come on, dad! It's Genis!"_

"_Ah said 'no one'!" Dirk barked before pointing at the stone. "No one can know that ya have that. Ya'll be in danger if anyone knows finds outt. Promise me, Lloyd!" _

"_A-All right, I promise."_

* * *

Automatically, Lloyd reached out to cover his bandaged hand and forced himself to look away. If the exsphere was dangerous, why was this man wearing one in plain sight? Who was he anyway?

"Thank you, stranger," Phaidra spoke up as she stood besides her granddaughter, "for saving the Chosen. We owe you a great deal."

The man's turned to look at the girl supporting Lloyd. "So you are the Chosen One?"

"Yeap! That's right!" Collette quickly stood up, resulting in Lloyd's hiss when he fell backwards against Genis. "Oops, I'm sorry, Lloyd."

"S'allright, Collette. I'm feeling a lot better now."

"Oh! wonderful!"

"Ouch, Collette, don't hug me so hard."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Genis rolled his eyes at the pair, "Jeez you guys."

"Your name is Lloyd?"

The question was so sudden; the said boy nearly fell forwards when he whipped his head to stare at the other swordsman who had addressed him. It was the same question that Desian had asked him with that hesitant tone in his voice. It unnerved the teenager for some reason.

"Yeah," he spoke unable to hide the annoyance in his tone, "And who are you to ask my name?"

Genis squeaked beside him and leaned up to hiss in his ear to keep the older man from listening. "Shh! Lloyd! Don't make him angry! He just killed four Desians with one stroke!"

Somehow the swordsman had overheard and decided to sheathe his sword before turning his attention to Phaidra and Collette.

"I am Kratos Aurion," the stranger finally introduced himself, "a mercenary who was requested by the Priest called Sayrune to accompany the Chosen to receive the Oracle."

Collette gulped as tears began to gather in her deep blue eyes, remembering the dead priest who had tried to warn them.

"F-Father Sayrune died," she spoke softly when she thought of the kind old priest, "he was attacked by the Desians."

The mercenary nodded, "Yes, I assumed that much when I saw his body down below. I have come to accept the job."

"Thank you, Mr. Aurion. We are very grateful for your assistance. Now that the Desians are gone, would you please escort the Chosen One into the Martel Temple?"

"Very well, it is why I'm here. Come, Chosen One."

"Um, okay."

"Hey wait a minute!" Lloyd spoke up before they could just walk off, "we're coming too!"

He barely heard Genis mutter something about always being roped in; while Collette looked startled and nervous. Lloyd couldn't understand why though, the Desians were gone.

"Lloyd," Phaidra began as she handed her granddaughter some spare gels, "this is not a field trip; and you've been injured and should go see the village doctor or better yet, find Raine."

The young half-elf squeaked at the mention of his sister, and Lloyd could only imagine the world of hurt they were both going to be in after this. Sure he had a headache, but it was bearable. Besides, there was no way he was entrusting Collette in some stranger's care. Steeling his nerves, he shook his head and placed a comforting hand on Collette's shoulder.

"We can't let Collette go alone, you know how much of a clutz she is… er sorry Collette."

"It's okay."

"Besides," he continued while pointing rudely at Kratos, "he's a total stranger and you can't trust your granddaughter and the Chosen to someone you just met!"

Kratos frowned at Lloyd before turning towards the temple. "Do as you like, but we're wasting time. Chosen, let's go."

"C-Coming!" Collette stuttered but smiled at her two best friends. She looped both her arms around theirs and proceeded to walk forward, make them look like entrants to a six-legged race. Both Genis and Lloyd knew it was to keep her from tripping on her own two feet as they headed into temple of Martel.

_Lloyd_

The brunet blinked, casting a glance over his shoulder. Strange, he thought he heard someone call his name, but all he saw was Phaidra's back as the elderly priestess was heading towards Iselia. He shook his head as if to clear it, and turned his attention back to his friends as they followed Kratos.

_Lloyd, this dream will end soon. Try not to disappear with it._

___________________________________________________________________________

End chapter 3


	5. Chapter 4

**Title:** Disintegration

**Author:** Tenohikari

**Fandom: **Tales of Symphonia

**Pairing: **Mithos(Yggdrassil)/Lloyd, and more pairings to come.

Warnings: male/male pairings. Ratings will go up in some chapters. AU but with a lot of Symphonia Game/Manga/Anime spoilers. Oh yeah, the story is 100% unbetad – so it's probably littered with tons of grammar/spelling errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I do own a copy of the game, the manga series, and some doujinshi... obsessed? Probably.

Summary: During the end of the Kharlan War, Lloyd had died before his lover and brother-in-arms, Mithos. Four thousand years later, Lloyd Irving finds himself not only on the journey of World Regeneration, but into the past he no longer remembers.

* * *

_Dear Lloyd, _

_I gave those two a good kick just like you asked and they're both very eager to return the favor the next time we meet up. Master told me to tell you that overconfidence breeds carelessness; and that no matter how good you are, someone else is always better – that would be me. _

_Mithos_

* * *

**Chapter 4**

- It's time to move on -

Lloyd was trying really hard not to be bored. The adrenaline rush from all the fighting earlier had yet to settle; and the lone sound of their footsteps was starting to grate on the teen's nerves. Really, what was the point of being so quiet? It wasn't as if there were any monsters in the temple of Martel.

'But tha'Without this exesphere, I would have been died't doesn't mean it won't be dangerous,' he found himself thinking and stopped himself from calling out to hear his voice echo off the walls. 'Desians could still be here. They could have let monsters in to kill Collette.'

Unconsciously, his gloved hands stroked the hilts of the former Desian weapons that remained sheathed at Lloyd's sides. He really hated the fact that he was carrying around the swords that had caused so much bloodshed today; but they were better than his previous ones. Lloyd gulped as he tried not to think about his dad and was thankful the bandage that covered remained in tact, as did his promise not to reveal it.

'Without this exesphere, I would have died.'

The realization made him feel cold all over. The darkness of the temple as they descended down into the temple's lower level just reminded him of that weird dream he had after blacking out. In the past Lloyd has had some pretty weird dreams but nothing as disturbing as a talking disembodied hand. At least it didn't have a mouth.

He jumped when a hand fell upon his shoulder and turned quickly, heard an unmistakable 'eek' and caught Collette from toppling down the stone steps. It only took him a second to realize that his friend had noticed him brooding and tried to offer comfort at the wrong time. Lloyd smiled apologetically to the startled girl and inwardly cursed himself for getting distracted.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm fine now that I haven't sent you falling to your death."

"You've been really quiet since we got here. You didn't even respond when Kratos started talking to you."

"Really? I didn't hear him."

"Guess you had your heads in the clouds again, just as Professor Raine always says!"

"Hmm, yeah. So what did he ask?"

"Oh about your fighting skills," Collette answered, "but then when you didn't respond, I guess he thought you were ignoring him."

He winced and stared at the back of the mercenary who was walking a few feet ahead of them. Adults often got annoyed or angry when children ignored their questions. Their lips would form a frown and eyes narrow; and Lloyd would just need to see that look on their face and either start apologizing or running. However, Kratos was a man of few facial expressions, and ever fewer words. Lloyd just wasn't able to tell if the mercenary was pissed off not.

Then it occurred to him that Kratos was also an exesphere bearer. What if the older man had sensed he had one too? What if that was what he wanted to ask Lloyd about? The brunet frowned and was glad he tuned the mercenary out when he did.

* * *

"This is a Sorcerer's Ring?" Lloyd repeated as he picked up the small piece of jewelry from it's alter. "This is the key, Collette?"

The Chosen nodded anxiously. "Yes, that ring will let us into the sealed chamber to receive the Oracle. Isn't it pretty?"

He heard Genis' poorly disguised chuckle when looking back at the ring and tried not to frown. For it being a magic ring, it certainly didn't look like much. The jewel was a dull dark ruby that didn't sparkle like the jewelry pieces women in the village often wear. The ring wasn't made from gold or silver; but brass which was tarnished probably over the years of use and neglect.

"Yeah," Lloyd lied quickly before handing it over to Collete, "here you go."

The girl shook her head and smiled. "No thanks, I don't think it likes me."

"Collette, it's a ring!" Genis gasped incredulously, "not a cat that will hiss at you when you put it on!"

"Also, you're The Chosen," Lloyd reminded, "and you're supposed to wear it, right?"

She shook her head and continued to smile but now sheepishly. "No, I don't have to. Anyone can wear it… but you see the last time I had it on, I tripped… and set grandma on fire."

Her two friends stared in wide-eyed disbelief before nodding to one another. They had thought they knew the limit of Collette's clumsiness when she made a person-shaped hole in the school; but this was entirely different. Neither one of them wanted to be set on fire.

"Genis?" Lloyd offered but the half elf shook his head and held up his kendama.

"Got magic already, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"You can keep it, Lloyd," Collette told him stepping forward to fold his fingers around the ring, "think of it as an early birthday present!"

The young swordsman blinked as he stared at his closed hand containing the Iselian Temple's treasured Sorcerer's Ring, and then at his friend who was beaming at him.

"A-Alright. Thanks Collette."

From behind them, Kratos turned to head back to the upper level. "I don't believe we need to stay inside the temple all day. Since we're finished here, let's head back up."

* * *

"This is the best birthday present, ever!" Lloyd exclaimed as he used his ring to light the torches on their way back up. The darkness melted away from both the room and within his mind. The dream was just a dream, one he would forget after a good night's rest. He turned back and gave the blonde a huge smile.

"Thanks, Collette!"

Genis rolled his eyes as Collette blushed in embarrassment and quickly summoned up water when some sparks hit the ground.

"Oh Goddess, he's turned into a pyromaniac."

* * *

The mirth was not long-lasting as Lloyd stood with the others in the temple's main alter room. Neither he nor Genis could help but gape at the being that floated from above. Snow colored wings flapped as a blonde man, an angel dressed in immaculate white an emerald robes, descended down until he hovered over the alter platform.

"I am Remiel," he spoke firmly, "an angel of judgment."

His jade eyes opened and stared directly at Collette. When Lloyd had a chance to tear his eyes away from the angel, he saw her shiver anxiously. Her large blue eyes were filled with hope and longing. Of course, according to the Church of Martel, the Chosen was descended from the angels of Cruxis and from what Genis had said earlier, the Oracle may very well be Collette's father.

Father…?

Lloyd thought about Frank Brunell, Phaidra's only son, who had raised Collette since she was a baby. His friend had never known her birth family, nor did she inquire about them at least in front of her friends. There were no hugs, kisses, or even smiles; so it was strange to Lloyd, seeing the reunion now between parent and child.

"I am here," the angel continued, "to guide the daughter of the mana lineage, Collette, on her journey as the seventh Chosen of Regeneration. Now is the time to awaken the Goddess Martel, who sleeps at the center of the world."

From the corner of his eye, he saw Genis perk up, "the awakening the Goddess Martel, it's the legend Raine told us about!"

Remiel paid no attention to the outburst as he extended an arm towards Collette, his fingers uncurled and small glowing sphere hovered above his palm. Without any hesitation or clumsiness on her part; Collette took a step forward. Such a small bold step couldn't help but make Lloyd both proud and scared for his childhood friend. She was ready to meet the Destiny she was eager to do… and at the same time, she would be leaving him and everyone else behind.

Stop, now wasn't the time to zone out and feel sorry for himself! He needed to be strong, for Collette. He also seriously doubted the angel would repeat himself for Lloyd's sake.

"From this moment, Collette is now the Chosen of Regeneration. We of Cruxis bless this event, and hereby bestow the Tower of Salvation upon Sylvarant."

Lloyd felt another pulse from his hidden exesphere, accompanied by a shudder in the ground under his feet. Automatically his toes curled within his boots and he managed to steady both Genis and himself from staggering into one another. Was it an earthquake?!

He shot a hasty glance towards Collette's new father and saw that he was not at all alarmed. Instead the angel's viridian gaze was directed towards the large windows facing the west. When the shaking stopped, the three children followed his gaze and gasped in amazement at what they saw. For Lloyd, it was the second time that day. The Tower of Salvation was as tall and majestic as the one from his dream; except now it was real for the whole world of Sylvarant to see.

_It has begun the seventh Chosen's quest to regenerate the world. Collette must now leave this normal life behind and embark on a quest for the angels of Cruxis. You must go with her, Lloyd; she will need you to stand strong by her side. And you will need her, and all the support of your friends, when the time has come to face your own trials._

"Lord Remiel, please wait!"

Lloyd broke away from his reverie as he saw he saw his friend rush over towards the platform before the angel disappeared. She looked up, pleadingly; her trembling hand was splayed protectively over her new Cruxis crystal. The angel paused when he glance down at her, his own expression remained unreadable and almost emotionless if possible.

"I have a question I need to ask you," Collette managed to force out, "A-Are you really my fath..."

Before she could finish, Remiel turned to face her and his face softened somewhat that it automatically put Collette at ease. "Remember to head first to the Seal of Fire. I will be waiting for you there, Collette, my beloved daughter."

Both Genis and Lloyd approached their friend as Collette dropped to her knees after Remiel ascended and disappeared from the alter room. Her thin shoulders shook and her frame trembled as if she were sobbing in grief; but it was just the opposite. Collette lifted her head, and wiped away a few tears before giving both of them a huge smile filled with absolute joy.

"My father, my true father," she spoke breathlessly, "I still can't believe it!"

Genis kneeled besides her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and offered her a handkerchief. "Collete, are you all right?"

She nodded while drying her eyes. "Y-Yes, I'm fine. I'm just surprised and really, really happy."

Lloyd smiled down at her before extending his hand to help her up. "And we're happy for you, Collette. Now you have two fathers, Frank and Remiel."

"I can't believe your father was the Oracle this whole time!" Genis spoke excitedly, "I wish Raine could have seen him."

Lloyd suddenly had a mental image of Collette introducing her stony-faced new father to the class, and then Raine – with a maniac gleam in her eyes - poking and prodding at his wings. There was a time when she even wanted to use Noishe as a research specimen but luckily he could out run her. Lloyd was pretty sure his dog was more scared of a school teacher than monstrous, red-eyed, werebear.

He blinked when Kratos called out to them, already standing by the exit.

"Now that you have received the oracle, Chosen," he spoke directly to Collette, "then let us leave now."

Collette glanced back at the alter platform; knowing her long lost parent wasn't going to appear anytime soon. "Oh, all right."

Without a word, Kratos left them. Their mercenary companion looked just as stony-faced then Remiel. Lloyd was used to seeing that look on Mayor of Iselia quite often; and wondered if wearing that default expression was part of growing up.

* * *

"Well?"

"My lord," the angel of judgment bowed deeply as he spoke, "it is done. The Chosen, Collette, has accepted the task, and will be heading to the Seal of Fire."

Even though Remiel was an elite angel of Cruxis, those unblinking ice green eyes continued to stare through him as if he were part of the décor. The possessor of those eyes was clearly uninterested in his full report but it pleased him to know that at least he had his lord's attention unlike the other angels who blended in with the scenery. It was short lived; before he even had a chance to finish, Remiel's soul audience stood from his throne and floated right passed him.

Remiel stopped abruptly, turning to see his lord vanish from sight.

* * *

It only took minutes for him to appear outside Iselia, also known as the Village of Oracles, and the home of the new Chosen. The leader of Cruxis for once acted on a whim to see the girl that would be invaluable to him. As if he willed it, she appeared – walking along a dirt road from the Temple of Martel.

She wasn't alone of course, noticing three males who flanked around her. How strange she wasn't surrounded by an army of bodyguards; but he supposed the oldest of the group would be more than enough. A smirk tugged at his lips as he watched, unnoticed.

He was about to head back to listen to the rest of Remiel's prattle; when something strange caught his eye. The Chosen of Regeneration did not wear the Sorcerer's Ring that she would need to complete her tasks in the various seal locations across Sylvarant. Was that girl stupid?! How could she not bring it with her?

His anger at the Chosen's ignorance quickly turned to surprise as a set of golden brown eyes focused on him. No, that was absurd. No one would see him unless he allowed for it.

Yet the brunet clothed in mostly red had stopped and stared; squinting as if he were looking at something far off in the distance. The lord of angels cast a glance passed his shoulder to determine what the boy was looking at. His enhanced vision saw nothing but foliage, and he frowned as he turned back to the Chosen's group once more.

Seeing nothing of interest, the teenager shrugged his shoulders before participating in an animated discussion with the other children. However, another set of brown, almost red, eyes met his gaze and flinched. He smiled warily at the mercenary, but did not respond as he turned to leave.

* * *

"Lloyd? What is it?"

"I thought I saw someone…"

The young swordsman squinted as he continued to stare off into the forest, eyes seeking out the faint glimmer of white that was now replaced with earthy green. Gone. Whatever had been there was nowhere in sight.

"Huh? I don't see anything," Genius spoke frowning before looking concerned. "Seriously, we need to find Raine and have her check your head if you start seeing people who aren't actually there."

Scratching his head, Lloyd shrugged, avoiding the worried gazes of both his friends and even their mercenary companion. He had felt fine since the pain had numbed down to a dying headache. His exesphere had shocked his hand in warning, when a glimmer of a human form appeared from the corner of his eye.

What was that being shrouded in light? Was it another angel? Why was he the only one who could see it? Maybe really needed Raine to examine him and hoped needles wouldn't be involved.

* * *

End Chapter 4_  
_


	6. Chapter 5

**Title: Disintegration **

**Author:** Tenohikari

**Fandom:** Tales of Symphonia

**Pairing:** Mithos(Yggdrassil)/Lloyd, and more pairings to come.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I do own a copy of the game, the manga series, and some doujinshi... obsessed? Probably...

**Warnings:** male/male pairings. Ratings will go up in some chapters. AU twist but with a lot of Symphonia Game/Manga/Anime spoilers. Oh yeah, the story is 100% unbetad – so it's probably littered with tons of grammar/spelling errors.

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 5**

After getting chewed out during a long medical examination, Lloyd was grateful that Professor Raine didn't physically punish him by adding onto his injuries. He did wince and cringe in sympathy for his best friend who probably had the worst spanking of his life. Genis' sister was sorely tempted to give him the same treatment after seeing the blood on his clothes, hearing how he fought the Desians in combat and how his head nearly turned into a pin cushion. She had all but ordered him to go home to rest and thank the Goddess that she didn't make him go back to the school house and write on the board for hours on end.

Class being cancelled for the day was another blessing. Raine was just too preoccupied with the attack of the Desians and the Chosen's Journey of Regeneration to be upset. After a meeting at Phaidra's house, the boys learned that the Professor and Kratos Aurion would be the ones to accompany Collette. Although Lloyd had insisted on coming he had been quickly shot down not only by the Mayor of Iselia but also by the stranger, Kratos, as well. The teen frowned and wondered what the mercenary's problem was.

"Well you did ignore him when he was trying to give you really important advice," Genis offered as he sat down on Lloyd's bed – wincing as he was reminded of the spanking his older sister had given him earlier. "He probably thinks you're some stupid kid who doesn't listen when adults tell you to do something that could save your life."

"Hey, I listen!" he then paused and then lowered his voice down to a whisper, "you don't think she'll tell my dad about how we left the school house to help Collette, do you?"

Genis only rolled his eyes which gave Lloyd little hope that he would not be grounded for the next month. He was just lucky that Dirk was out getting supplies which earned him at least a whole afternoon of freedom. As he cleaned up, changed his clothes, hid the bloodstained ones and broken wood swords in the closet; Genis went downstairs to feed Noishe and make them some lunch.

The aroma was definitely mouthwatering; but too sweet to be soup his friend usually prepared with sandwiches. Being the taller of the two definitely had its advantages as Lloyd peered over his friend's shoulder to see what he was cooking on the stove top. To his stomach's delight, he saw a tray of freshly baked oatmeal and peanut butter cookies that he just had dive into before the sandwiches that were already prepared on the table. He prepared to reach forward to make a quick grab, only to stagger backwards when the half-elf elbowed him in the ribs.

"You can have some after lunch," Genis scolded as he turned around and pointed to the plate of sandwiches, "and not all of these are for us."

Lloyd was never the one to back down after one failed attempt made another when he thought the younger boy had his hands full washing the dishes. However, instead of biting into a crisp warm cookie, he had a mouth full of soapy water. He really should have known better not to annoy the little magus who had an equally short fuse.

"So who are the rest for?" he asked, sitting down at the table and eating his sandwich in defeat. "Collette and the Professor?"

"No, I'll make them a batch when I get back to the village. The rest is for a friend who lives outside."

The young swordsman blinked and stopped chewing. Now that was a surprise. Although Genis and Lloyd have been best friends for years; other than Collete and her family, the young half elf wasn't very close to humans. Animals were a different story, but he couldn't have any pets out of fear Raine would attempt to experiment with them… or worse, make them eat her horrendous cooking. So Lloyd started to wonder if Genis made pals with a wolf or something. That might be interesting; Noishe could have a new friend.

"Is she cute?"

Genis looked up sharply from sandwich he had been nibbling and swallowed hard. "H-How did you know it was a 'she'?"

"Gut instinct!" Lloyd exclaimed proudly. "So is she? Will Noishe like her?"

"Noishe?"

"Yeah, it'll be neat if he could have a buddy around while dad's working and I'm at school. I can feed her to when you're busy. So what kind of food does she eat other than cookies? Hey maybe dad will let me keep her and…"

He stopped babbling when the other boy sent him an incredulous stare. It was the same look the genius half-elf gave him when they were in class, and he had had quickly spouted out some random number for a math question when they were studying history. Lloyd rubbed the back of his head in emabressement.

"Not a dog?"

"Nope."

"A rabbit then? Is it a cat? Don't tell me it's a bear!"

"She's human!" the younger boy exclaimed, "Her name is Marbel. She's a human being and not some wild animal."

Lloyd chewed slowly as his mind slowly processed this new information. There was a human living in the woods of Iselia? Surely he would have heard about it, at least from his father who often traveled around for supplies or to go hunting. The only humans around, lived inside the village or the…

"Wait a minute!" he snapped, dropping his sandwich and forgetting his appetite completely. "Your friend isn't a prisoner of the Ranch, is she?"

Seeing his Genis avoid his intense gaze out of guilt was confirmation enough. Silence permeated the small house that had once been filled with noisy chatter. Lloyd leaned back in his seat and wished he had been wrong this time.

A Human Ranch was exactly what was; a place where human beings were treated as livestock. Many of these unfortunate people - men and women of all ages - had been taken from their villages and towns that were ravaged by Desians to be worked to death. It made both Lloyd and his father sick to think about what kind of inhumane treatment was going on just miles away from their own home.

"I… I know it was stupid…" the half elf spoke apologetically, "but she's always starving! Those monsters don't give her much to eat because she can't work as hard as the others. But being an old lady isn't her fault!"

Although he was touched that Genis had gone out of his way to help a person in need, it still bothered him that his friend had put himself in mortal danger without telling anyone. He could only imagine the world of hurt Raine would send her little brother to if she were to ever learn he visited the Ranch frequently. The Mayor of Iselia would gladly exile both the Sage Siblings from the village if word got out they interfered with the Desians. There was no doubt he would even blame them for violating the peace treaty despite the attack earlier today.

"Please, Lloyd," his best friend pleaded. "Please don't tell anyone! Promise me!"

The brunet frowned as he leaned forward over the table and gently whapped the smaller boy over the head. Genis should have already known without asking. No matter what, he always stood by his friends.

"Of course, dummy." It was strange calling the smartest student in class that, but both boys ended up cracking a smile. "Just promise that from now on, you'll let me come with you."

* * *

After surviving a deadly encounter with the fearsome Desians, any person with a shred of common sense would not knowingly put themselves in a similar situation again in the same day. Genis was probably the most level headed person Lloyd knew, and it surprised him that he was the one tagging along on his friend's dangerous venture towards a place where most adults in the village did not dare to take even ten steps in that direction. Still if his friend wanted to help someone, he was going to help his friend.

_"Dwarven Vow #2: Never abandon someone in need." _

Most people would call him a fool and he wouldn't care. Genis needed him to watch his back every once and awhile, and that was all there was to it. Besides, Lloyd and Genis were just delivering cookies to a little old lady. It's not that they were expecting to fight the Desians again. But if the opportunity to score payback against those monsters presented itself, they would be extremely careful about it.

Noishe was an excellent scout through the woods, as they manage to find their way to the ranch without being spotted by patrolling Iselian guards. If Lloyd wasn't already convinced his dog was a genius, he was now. The moment Noishe heard the words 'Human Ranch' the dog had whimpered but left the comfort and safety of his pen to tag along. Genis was just thankful that his friend's unusual pet was at least green and could act as camouflage.

Lloyd fought off the feeling of unease when he caught sight of the gates of the Human Ranch that appeared like an oversized cage. As they approached, their furry green shield let out a low whine and ran back into the woods. The two friends approached cautiously from the side. While the older boy looked grim, Genis' face lighted up as he spotted an elderly woman dressed in a ragged prisoner uniform that looked like it was made of burlap.

"Marble!"

The weariness on Marble's face seemed to vanish as she climbed to her feet and approached the gates to smile at the short silver-haired boy.

"Genis, you came!"

"Sorry that I'm so late, were you waiting long?"

She shook her head and glanced curiously at the other red-clad teenager.

"Oh this is my friend, Lloyd," said Genis. "Lloyd, this is Marble."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lloyd." Marble greeted him with a warm smile that he returned wholeheartedly.

"Likewise."

The half-elf set down his book bag, and pulled out a thin canteen of water, small wrapped bundle of cookies, and a sandwich. Lloyd had his doubts that the food would be able to pass through the wire mesh, but Genis must have been doing this often as he was able to hand it over to Marble who quickly consumed the meal as if it had been her first in many days. Lloyd wouldn't doubt it, remembering when his best friend's earlier outburst. It made him appreciate just how lucky he was to be free… even if he felt horribly guilty about watching people being treated inhumanely.

As she ate, Genis told her all of the exciting events that happened today and both were caught up in the excitement of the Oracle's appearance. Marble's smile grew wider by the minute as the mention of the Chosen's Generation; her weary eyes sparkled with hope. Lloyd kept out on the lookout as they talked, but every so often his eyes would stray to the Tower of Salvation.

The strange dreams he had at school came back to him, though not as vivid. He could recall seeing the same massive structure that was the Tower of Salvation but somehow not the half-elf girl who had been speaking to him. However, Lloyd had forgotten what was spoken in those strange one-sided conversations. Did his sudden forgetfulness have something to do with his head injury from before? Or was he just exhausted.

Lloyd sighed and reached up to rub his temples and turned towards Genis who was still chatting with Marble. He tried not to stare at either her painfully thin frame or scarred and dirty hands as she tried to clean them off on her dress. Lloyd couldn't help himself, as caught sight of a familiar looking stone, embedded into the back of her hand.

"Hey Grams," he spoke to Marble who flinched when he crouched down to examine the stone more closely. "Is that an exsphere?"

"Her name is Marble." Genis frowned at how Lloyd had addressed his other friend, finding it rude and disrespectful. The elderly woman only smiled fondly at the two of them.

"It's quite all right, Genis. As for this stone," Marble frowned in dismay as she looked at the back of her hand. "I'm not sure what it is called. As soon as we arrived at the Ranch, the Desians implanted them into us. The stone is helpful when it comes to hard labor, but dreadful to look at."

Lloyd nodded in agreement as he stared at bluish-veins that stuck out unnaturally around the embedded exsphere. "They didn't put a key crest on."

"A what?"

The brunet turned slightly to catch his best friend's inquisitive stare. That's right, there was no way Genis would have known of the exspheres, raised in a village of free humans. Lloyd had kept his own hidden under layers of bandages the entire time with the same excuse that a craftsman had to protect his hands. It was a lie, and despite the promise to his father, he couldn't help but feel a surge of guilt.

"Attaching an exsphere directly to skin will eventually make you really sick, unless it's mounted to a key crest," he explained. "Only dwarves can make them."

At the last part, Genis nodded in understanding, while his blue eyes clouded in worry while Marble looked amazed at this new information.

"You're quite knowledgeable, Lloyd."

The student who usually got the lowest marks when it came to exams; couldn't help but flush with pride and embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head. An idea suddenly came to him as he lowered his arms and examined the single bandage around his hand. Although they couldn't free this kind old lady from imprisonment, maybe there was some way to help her like Genis was.

"My dad is a dwarf blacksmith," he informed Marble. "I can probably talk him into making a key crest for you."

After all, it was part of their vows to help someone in need. Marble was a prisoner of the Human Ranch and needed all the help she could get. Well, it was probably for the best that he not mentions the whole visiting the ranch part. He didn't need to add onto the head injuries he received that day.

"That's great, Lloyd!" Genius was enthused… so much so that the half-elf child had completely forgotten where they were.

"Sshh!"

The red-clad swordsman heard the sound of approaching footsteps and grabbed onto his friend when two Desians on perimeter patrol came into his line of vision. It was too late, they had been seen. Lloyd quickly whistled for Noishe who came bounding back just time for the brunet to toss his startled friend onto the large dog's back. With a quick swat to the side, Noishe took off back into the forest as Lloyd drew his blades free from their scabbards.

With his twin swords he was able to counter both charging Desians at the same time. Once more he called upon the strength from his own exsphere, as his two opponents tried to overwhelm him from both sides. From the corner of his eye he saw Marble tense, bringing her hands to her mouth in muted horror.

"Grams!" he managed to shout through clenched teeth. "Hey! Don't just stand there! Go on, run!"

Realizing there was nothing she could do being on the other side of the gate, Marble fled while praying to the goddess that the young man would be all right. Fortunately her prayers had not fallen on a dead deity's ears. Luck was on Lloyd's side once again as he sidestepped to avoid one opponent's blade as he used one of his own to slash at the second's throat with deadly accuracy. Seeing his comrade fall, the remaining Desian snarled as he charged at Lloyd, raising his massive sword over the youth's head.

Lloyd reacted quickly enough, crossing his blades in the form of an "X" as he blocked the devastating blow. He gritted his teeth and glared up at his enemy who leered back in response, putting more of his weight behind the blade. His eyes quickly darted in all directions for an escape route that won't lead the Desians back home.

His options were few of course. There was forest behind him, but he didn't want to run the risk of getting lost or leading them back to Genis and Noishe. Then there was the main road which meant he would be out in the open. Finally, there was the cliff that he wouldn't be able to climb down while being chase, sure he could jump but that would be close to suicide. Still… jumping would be his best option, especially when the number of enemies increased.

"There's the intruder, get him!"

"Damn!" he cursed, spotting more Desians appearing around the corner.

Capture was not an option. While using one of his swords to keep the enemy's weapon at bay, Lloyd yanked his other blade and slashed his startled enemy across the chest. His heart beating more by the second, he didn't even wait for the man fall as his feet carried him to the cliff and right over it. There was a strange yet familiar feeling to not have the solid ground beneath his feet. Lloyd felt the gentle pulse of his exsphere and a sudden throbbing pain coming from his upper back before his vision swam and then… darkness.

* * *

"Impossible!" gasped the first Desian who arrived at the edge of the cliff. Had the half-elf soldier not been wearing his helm, he would have rubbed his eyes.

"The fool jumped to his death?" asked a newcomer. "Well that certainly saved us time for tracking him down."

"I… I don't think he's dead."

"Are you kidding? No human could survive a fall like that."

"T-That's what I'm saying! I don't think he was human!"

"Explain."

The group of Desian simultaneously stiffened upon turning to the low commanding voice that belonged to Grand Cardinal Forcystus. At the sight of him, the human prisoners crowded around the gate at the commotion, quickly scattered in terror. The tall muscular looking Desian commander glanced down warily at the two fallen bodies at his feet before turning his single narrowed gaze to the soldier standing at the cliff.

"Well?"

"Well, sir…it's just that I thought…" the half-elf swallowed hard at the intense gazes from his lord and peers and just forced the rest of the words out. No matter how strange they sounded to his pointed-tip ears.

"I could have sworn that the intruder had wings!"

* * *

**End Chapter 5 **

**Author's Note: **

I'm really sorry for the year long delay, actually was planning on discontinuing until I received some very encouraging reviews and have fallen in love with Tales of Symphonia all over again (may even go back and play the first game until I get the Zelos ending), so I'll try and update on a regular basis. Thank you all for reading, and please let me know what you think by sending me a review.


	7. Chapter 6

**Title: Disintegration **

**Author:** Tenohikari

**Fandom:** Tales of Symphonia

**Pairing:** Mithos(Yggdrassil)/Lloyd, and more pairings to come.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I do own a copy of the game, the manga series, and some doujinshi... obsessed? Probably...

**Warnings:** male/male pairings. Ratings will go up in some chapters. AU twist but with a lot of Symphonia Game/Manga/Anime spoilers. Oh yeah, the story is 100% unbetad (this chapter was finished at 4:1am and I'm down to my last can of soda) – so it's probably littered with tons of grammar/spelling errors.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Lloyd couldn't tell whether or not he was dreaming. He was certain that he had leapt from a cliff in order to escape the Desians; but for some reason the young swordsman couldn't understand why he wasn't afraid. His heart was beating normally despite the fact that he could be falling to his doom. But he felt confident for some reason; a lone voice in the back of his head insisted that he was in no danger.

It was only when the soles of his red boots touched the ground was he fully awake. The teen turned around half way from where he was crouched to look up at the cliff behind him. At first he was worried that the Desians would follow him down, but there were none as Lloyd gaped in disbelief at the height. Had he really fallen that far? He could still remember vividly, three summers ago he had jumped from a tree and sprained his ankle. Below him, both his legs felt fine – in fact, he was well enough to sprint the rest of the way home.

Upon standing, he could hear the sound of heavy footfalls coming from the forest and quickly brought up his swords in anticipation. Fortunately it wasn't anymore Desians. Instead a familiar green shape leapt out of the bushes to whine at him, it's little white and blue bundle looked equally distressed.

"Lloyd!" Genis cried out as he reached out to grab his friend by the sleeve. "It's all my fault! Because of me, you… Oh Martel, I'm so sorry. What are we going to do? The Desians they saw you…!"

Genis clung to Lloyd and refused to let the other go. The half boy broke off in a wail and was crying as if the other boy had been given the death sentence. It painfully reminded the brunet how young the little mage was despite his intelligence. Lloyd reached out to steady Genis who looked ready to fall from Noishe's back, and then affectionately pat him on the head.

"Don't worry, Genis," he gently assured his friend as if it were no big deal. "I took out the ones who saw my face and turned away when the others came before I jumped. Let's just head back before it gets dark."

The other boy still refused to let go and was still sniffling apologies before Lloyd sighed and lead Noishe back to village while avoiding the road.

"It's no big deal, really; but if you feel that bad about it, you could always do my homework for me."

Finally, the small half-elf calmed down, brushing the remainder of his tears away as tried to return Lloyd's smile.

"O-Okay…"

Afterwards, the two remained quiet on their way back to the village. Both were straining their ears just in case the Desians decided to follow them back after all. By the time they reached the gates, both broke into relieved sighs and bid each other goodnight.

Lloyd lowered his arm after he finished waiving to Genis, and stared at the back of his hand. Once again, his eyes were locked onto the sapphire oval that seemed to flicker back at him. Wait… what had happened to the bandages? He was certain that they were still on before he and Genis left the house. Did his exesphere somehow destroy them? They were now in plain sight for anyone to see…

His eyes widened and automatically as he stared at the exposed gem before he slapped his other hand on top of it. Dirk's warning came back to scold him and he quickly locked around to see if anyone was nearby. Luckily the villagers were behind the gates, but that didn't stop Lloyd from taking another cautious glance around him before turning to leave.

'_This isn't good,'_ he thought to himself_, 'too many close calls today. Does the Goddess Martel have it out for me or what?'_

On the way home, Lloyd began to feel sick. It started out as a small headache, which understandable after his fight with that Desian giant at the temple and he hadn't gotten any rest as Raine had ordered him to. But as his house came into sight, the throbbing intensified with each step. It was as if his hearing were on some other level and he could actual hear the impact of his father's hammer against hard steel surface of his anvil over and over again.

Drawing in a ragged breath, he could easily visualize himself within the blacksmith workshop attached to their home. He could smell the forge, the burning coals and hot steel. The metallic smell of blood suddenly filled his nostrils and he was overcome with nausea. Clamping a hand over his mouth, he heard Noishe whine in concern as he stumbled over onto the makeshift bridge over the creak and promptly emptied the contents of his stomach into the water below.

As he wretched, nightmarish images gave Lloyd no peace as they assaulted his mind. Instead of the pounding of a hammer, he heard the crack of the whip as Desians punished humans as if they were cattle. The blacksmith forge was replaced with burning buildings with people screaming within them. The screaming turned into high pitched inhuman shrieks of agony that made Lloyd pray for deafness. Then he saw coffins, hundreds of them, suspended in the air and then… it was finally quiet.

A cool touch against his feverish cheek brought him out of the nightmare. He turned to face a set of cold green eyes set into a hauntingly familiar face that was so pale that it looked to be carved of fine marble. A cold chill ran down his spine despite the layers of clothing he wear, and instinctively he drew away.

"Whine?"

He blinked and the human face was gone, replaced with Noishe's furry green and white one. Beady black eyes watched him intently, following his every movement as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. The large dog made another noise in concern for the teenager, before pressing his cold nose against Lloyd's face one more.

The illness began to fade and Lloyd scratched around Noishe's ears in gratitude. He then rubbed the back of his head and wondered what had come over him all of a sudden. Never before had he been so sick, even with Raine's home-made oatmeal, that he would hallucinate line that. He really needed to get some rest, and with Noishe's assistance, walked into the house.

Upon entry the same smells he had imagined were not strong enough to make him violently ill again. Dirk turned around to welcome his son home, but stopped half way and frowned at the teen's abnormally pale face and ordered him straight to his bed. Lloyd complied eagerly and trudged up the steps leading to his room, wishing he had stayed there in the first place the whole day.

"Should I go get Raine?" Dirk asked worriedly outside his room.

"Nah, I'm good. Just need some sleep is all."

He heard Dirk's heavy footsteps depart from his door before sighing in relief. The thought of his overbearing school teacher coming to chew him out for not resting and then force-feeding him medicine along with her dreadful cooking only made Lloyd feel worse. He would no sooner go another round with the Desians rather lose whatever food was left in his stomach any concoction his friend's crazy sister passed off as 'comfort food'.

Shuddering at the thought, Lloyd quickly shrugged off his weapons and clothes before he eagerly crawled into bed. As tired as he was, sleep was not instantaneous. The pressure that had been pounding at his skull had moved down to his back and there was a slight burning sensation beneath his shoulder blades. Gritting his teeth he scratched at the sore and stiff places until he felt the familiar pulse of his exesphere once more. He stared as the gem's soft blue seemed to illuminate his dark bedroom, then finally his eyes grew heavy and he fell blissfully asleep.

* * *

_Fire and brimstone,_

_Death and despair,_

_Thou memories disowned,_

_Make thee aware._

_

* * *

_

"_Your majesty! Your majesty!" he continued to call out while pounding at the resilient immovable door with fists. "The castle is under attack! I have to move you to safety now! Please open the door!"_

_As is his cries fell on the deaf ears of the room's occupants, he stepped back and unsheathed his sword. There was no other option but to cut through. The sounds of the fighting outside the castle were growing louder each second. _

"_Get back! I'm coming in!" He counted to five before unleashing a series of devastating blows on the once impenetrable door. _

"_Sword Rain!" _

_His blade moved fluidly, stabbing and utterly destroying the door until it was torn from its hinges. He kicked it aside and rushed in, avoiding the servant who had been hiding were now fleeing to the exit. One person remained, however, kneeling in prayer and seemingly unaware of the chaotic atmosphere that forcefully infiltrated the palace._

_Biting his lip, he dropped to one knee at the other's side._

"_Your majesty," he began and frowned at the lack of response. "The castle is lost, we must flee!"_

_The other person did not move, seemingly resembling a statue rather than a human being. He cursed in several languages as his ears picked up the sound of several footsteps coming closer followed by the screams of the servants who had fled several minutes ago. _

_Looking around, he knew they could escape through the window, but he had to make sure the enemy would not follow. It was when spotted the lamps that had long gout and stood quickly as a plan quickly came to mind. He rushed over to a barrel and picked it up with all his might before turning to the door. _

"_They're in here!" snarled an enemy soldier as his comrades crowded around the door. _

_With a snarl, he threw the barrel at them. Most were able to dodge the impact, but all were covered with lamp oil. He backed away; taking hold of the person he had come to save and began to drag them over to the window. _

"_You fool!" one of the soldiers spat in his direction. The others all chuckled sadistically as they approached while dripping and wreaking of oil. "I'll snap your neck with my bare hands before you can even make a spark!" _

_He glared back at menacing crowd before aiming his fist at them. Behind him, he heard a gasp of horror coming from the monarch before the sound of agonizing screams filled the room. If they had only been wise enough to notice the warning glint of the Sorcerer's Ring and had backed away, he would have let them live. _

_

* * *

_

_Fast forward... Play … Rewind…Play…_

"Again," commanded Grand Cardinal Forcystus, standing still as a statue for the past two hours. His single seeing eye was fixated on the frozen visuals on the large screen before him. The Desian soldier sitting at the terminal, whose fingers must have been aching terribly by now, quickly complied.

_Fast forward... Play … Rewind…Play…_

On the monitor, the footage from one of the security cameras displayed a red-clad intruder cut down their comrades with inhuman strength. It was inconceivable. Not even a prisoner of the ranch – a human physically enhanced with a modified exesphere - could do serious injury to his men. But the bodies of their slain comrades proved that there must be something else…

"There! Freeze frame at point 2:21 and enlarge."

"Yes, my lord."

The other Desians in the back could not believe what they were seeing; they had believed a rogue group had ambushed the perimeter guards from behind. But no, the attack had been carried out effectively enough by one single human… a child no less. Forcystus stared unblinkingly at the still image for along minute, going over every single detail and committing them to memory. His critical eye kept returning to the white bandage that was wrapped around one of the boy's gloves rather than underneath it. After several more minutes of scrutinizing, Forcystus turned to one of his subordinates standing behind him.

"Do we have a match from the database, Lieutenant Elric?"

As he was addressed, a shorter Desian soldier stepped forward with a printed file in his hand and presented it to the Cardinal.

"Yes sir, he is a human resident who lives outside of Iselia by the name of Lloyd Irving."

The impassive look on the Grand Cardinal's face changed into something none of his soldiers, who had served under him for decades, could identify. Then the look was gone as quickly as it came that many thought they had imagined it. His lip then curled into a sneer that caused the soldiers to stiffen in anticipation.

"Those inferior beings violated our treaty, and we will ensure that they will pay for their audacity," he promised before lifting his gaze back to the screen. "Bring that prisoner the intruder was talking to, she will be accompanying us tonight."

* * *

Lloyd woke up screaming, bolting up in bed at the horror he had just witnessed in his own dream. His eyes went wide to see that he was drenched in what he had first believed was lamp oil rather than sweat. It was only after he vigorously dried himself off, did the shivering boy realize the difference.

He sagged down onto the hard wood floor and stared out at the moon peaking through his window. Lloyd could not recall any of his past nightmares ever being as vivid as the one he had just had. Usually he could forget them and even go back and have a proper night's sleep; but now he was wide awake. With a groan, he stood to clean himself up in the bathroom and got dressed while running the events of the dream around in his head.

Lloyd was hesitant at first to put on the Sorcerer's Ring back on his finger again. When Collette had told them she did not want use it after accidentally setting Phaidra on fire; he had brushed it off as his friend just being a really dangerous klutz. All he ever used the ring was for lighting torches with small burst of flames that was nothing compared to Genis' magic. In the dream, however, the ring had unleashed a torrent of fire; and with the oil, burned those soldiers until their flesh burned to ash…and he watched unblinkingly without regret or remorse.

'_Both at the temple and then at the ranch, I've killed a lot of people today,'_ he thought grimily. _'But I never killed like that.'_

The nausea returned, but did not overwhelm him like it had earlier and then left as swiftly as it came. Again, he had to remind himself that it was only a dream and one that was as far from reality as possible. There was nothing to regret from it, all he had to do was clear his head and think about what he was going to do tomorrow when… Collete was going to begin the Journey of Regeneration.

'_I should go see her,'_ he concluded as he got up and headed down stairs.

He passed his father's workshop on his way and wasn't surprised to see him still working this late. Dirk claimed that being a dwarf he didn't need as much sleep as humans did and liked to keep busy especially if there was someone in need. After the attack, Lloyd was pretty sure the villagers would request Dirk's assistance to creating stronger weapons and gates for their protection.

A person in need… and the Desians…

Suddenly the image Marble's scarred hands and her exesphere reminded him that he was supposed to ask Dirk to create a key crest. She needed one badly before she got sick or worse. He would have like to slap himself on the back of the head for forgetting, until Dirk lifted his head to regard him.

"Lloyd? It's late. Where ya goin', son?"

He had to admit he was pretty lucky that Dirk adopted him. Any other adult would have told their child to go straight back to bed. But his father did acknowledge that he was close to an adult so he didn't enforce too many rules.

"Collette received the Oracle today so she'll be heading off on the Journey of Regeneration soon and..."

"I know, the lass came by earlier to see ya."

"Collette was here?"

"With Genis, Raine and a mercenary, but I told 'em ya were sick."

"Oh."

"Ya were gonna ask if ya could tag along with them?" Dirk asked a short time later.

Well he had wanted to go, but was flat out denied by the Mayor and Kratos. Lloyd was also certain his teacher was against it as well.

"I mean, if Collette wants me to come along, then sure, but she hasn't told me anything so I just wanted to spend some time with her before she left," he answered truthfully. "So can I go?"

Dirk nodded. "All right, but don't bother her too long, ya hear?"

"I won't… oh and Dad, I have a favor to ask."

"I heard ya fought the Desians who attacked the temple and lost your swords. Take the ones on the table behind ya."

Lloyd threw the dwarf a grateful look and eagerly replaced the stolen Desians blades in his scabbards for his father's finer work.

"Thanks, Dad! These are great!" Lloyd took a moment to admire the craft man ship of the hilt and how smoothly he could wield them before calling out to Dirk before he started working again. "Actually, I need something else."

"What?"

"Err… a key crest."

Dirk's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "For who?"

"There was someone I met today who had an exesphere without a key crest mount," he admitted honestly. "You told me that without one, you can get really sick. So I thought that we could help."

"And who is this 'someone', Lloyd? Where did ya meet them?"

This was going to be difficult. Lloyd knew how to lie, but to his father was nearly impossible who instilled Dwarven vows into him. But he had to try this time in order to keep his promise to Genis.

"Her name is Marble… I met her in town and…"

"Dwarven Vow #11," the blacksmith spoke gruffly as he frowned at Lloyd, "lying is the first step down the path to thievery. Where is she from?"

The boy winced, suddenly feeling very small as his dwarf dad approached him. He could chose to try and lie again, but it would only just make the situation worse. If he told the truth to just Dirk, surely Genis wouldn't stay mad at him for too long.

"She's a prisoner of the Human Ranch."

He immediately regretted his decision when a fist went sailing into the air and connected the wall just an inch away from his face.

"Ya went to the ranch?" his father roared with fury. "Lloyd, that's going against the treaty!"

"But the Desians violated the treaty first!" he tried to argue back but Dirk turned a deaf ear to it and instead pointed down to the clearly visible exesphere on his hand.

"Did anyone see this on ya?"

"N-no, I don't think so. The bandages broke though when I was fighting… and doesn't it matter if someone saw it? I'm old enough to defend myself from…"

Lloyd was abruptly cut off as he was roughly shoved against the wall this time, and grew quiet as the color of Dirk's face darkened.

"Boy, listen to me and listen good!" once he saw that his son had his complete attention, Dirk continued. "That there exesphere is special. Those Desians would kill to get their hands on it… on ya… if they knew about it."

Now this was new information to Lloyd, and he wasn't about to let it go.

"Why? Why is it so special?" he demanded. "Why give it to me then?"

"Because, Lloyd, it belonged to yer mom." All anger from Dirk's voice was gone and replaced with remorse. "The Desians, they killed her to get that there exesphere back."

Lloyd was lucky to have the wall for support as his legs trembled and threatened to collapse underneath him. He felt as if he were thrown into yet another nightmare. Images of poor Marble and the other prisoners of the ranch came to mind and although he couldn't remember his mother's face, his heart broke at the thought of her suffering at the hands of those monsters.

He was suddenly overcome with an intense fury he had never experienced before. It felt as if his blood were boiling beneath his skin. It almost drove him to the point where he wanted to look for barrels of lamp oil and set the Human Ranch on fire with all the Desians roasting alive within it.

'_Without regret… without remorse…' _

"You kept this from me, the entire time…" he accused softly though his fierce glare spoke volumes.

Dirk continued to frown but wisely distanced himself from the teen. "If I had told ya sooner, ya might not be alive today, Lloyd."

How he wanted to rebuke against that but he knew his dad was right. If he had found out before having any training with weapons, there's no telling what he would have done. His life span would have definitely been shorter, so he couldn't fault Dirk for trying to protect him. Still, his anger remained, burning as brightly as the embers within the blacksmith forge. After a long uncomfortable silence, Lloyd turned and walked away.

* * *

"You're absolutely certain?"

"Yes, sir. The profiles match. He is the offspring of prisoner A012."

"After all this time…"

"How do you wish me to proceed? Forcystus is on the move and he brought one of the Ranch prisoners with him."

"Do not compromise your position, Elric. Stand by and continue to monitor the Chosen's group."

"Yes sir, but what about Lloyd Irving? What if Forcystus tries to kill him?"

"You need not worry about that. I will deal with Loyd another time."

"Yes, my lord."

* * *

The quiet walk to the village did manage to settle his nerves. Sure he still hated the Desians – more than ever – but he wouldn't go off charging into t he Ranch. One day he would avenge his mother. Not just her, but all the innocents who suffered under the brutality of the whole Desian system; which is why he was going to see Collette and convince her to let him come on the journey. The Chosen of Regeneration would have the final say over her bodyguards after all.

Upon nearing his destination, Lloyd picked up the smell of burning wood in the air. Normally the villagers would light fires in their fire places to warm their homes; but the smell of smoke was never this strong. Lifting his head, his mouth fell open in shock to see dark clouds rising above the tall trees around the village.

'Collette!' he thought desperately. 'Genis, Raine, all the villagers –please let them be okay!'

He broke out into a run; racing the rest of the way to his home away from home and the other family members who resided there. What could have caused the fire? Were the Desians attacking yet again?

Lloyd came skidding to halt as his wide and fearful eyes were fixated on Iselia as it burned. Not all the buildings were on fire, but there were still plenty that were and he could hear – he could actually hear – the families screaming within them. Was he trapped within another nightmare?

It was only when the Desians lined up around the entrance to the village had turned to face him did Lloyd wish he could wake up. He wasn't overly concerned about the foot soldiers he had taken out at the ranch, or even the mages; he could probably take them all out if he was fast enough. However, there was one half-elf that made him feel rooted to the spot. In the world of Sylvarant, there was only one Desian leader who had spiky green hair, a canon for an arm, and one seeing eye – an eye that was now fixated on him and there was a flash or recognition.

Grand Cardinal Forcystus's smile was replaced with a leer before turning his back on the fiery chaos they had unleashed upon Iselia, to face him.

"We finally meet again, Lloyd."

**End Chapter 6**

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* * *

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**Author's Note: **

Ugh, another long delay and I do apologize for all the mistakes you'll find in this chapter – pretty much wrote it all in one of my rare days off. I'll go back to make corrections but wanted to post this before I forgot. Thank you all for reading, and please let me know what you think by sending me a review.


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